Screen Awards is a prestigious award ceremony that is held annually in India, to honour some of the best talents in the Hindi Film Industry or Bollywood and regional film industries, who have delivered the most appreciable and credible work in films released in the preceding year. Screen Awards has been the only award ceremony in India which has been graced by the presence of the Executive Director and the Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States, known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, now officially known as The "Oscars". The entire process of nomination and selection of awards is executed by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry itself, called the jury, in a manner similar to that of the Oscars. The criterion for winning, thus, is professional excellence and not just popular view. The exclusive popular category of awards was introduced in the 2009 edition of Screen Awards, for Best Actor and Best Actress, wherein winners are decided by the viewers who vote for their favourite actor"s and actress" performance.
History of Screen Awards
Screen Awards was first started by the chairman of The Express Group, Mr. Viveck Goenka, in the year 1994, with a primary focus of honouring excellence of Indian Cinema. Screen Awards are the first of its kind in India where the awards are given by the film fraternity to the film fraternity by way of a jury, as opposed to the other popular awards. This award ceremony is also the first to be conducted every year.
The awards for Hindi and Marathi films, TV and non-film music are presented annually at a glittering function held in January each year. The event presents awards in various categories to honour the artistic and technical excellence of the film fraternity. Various editions of the awards like the Screen Weekly Awards, Screen Videocon Awards, Star Screen Awards, Colors Screen Awards and Life OK Screen Awards have thus far been presented. Until 2001, Videocon International was the title sponsor of the awards, hence the awards were titled Screen Videocon Awards. As for the regional cinemas of South India, Screen Awards have held three editions for honouring the excellence in Telugu,Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada cinemas, called the "Screen Awards for excellence in South Indian Cinema".
Awards presented at Screen Awards
The jury awards presented at the Screen Awards include Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Villain, Best Comedian, Best Music Director, Best Lyricist, Best Male Playback, Best Female Playback, Most Promising Newcomer - Male and Most Promising Newcomer - Female. The popular choice awards include Best Actor and Best Actress. The Technical Awards include Best Story, Best Screenplay, Best Dialogue, Best Background Music, Best Editing, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Action, Best Cinematography, Best Choreography and Best Sound Design. There are some Special Awards presented at the Screen Awards, which include Lifetime Achievement, Jodi No. 1, Best Actor and Best Actress (Critics) for 2007 and 2008, Best Child Artist and Special Jury Award.
Superlative Records at Screen Awards
"3 Idiots" (2009) holds the record for the maximum number of wins in a single year, having won a total of 10 awards in the 2010 edition. Sanjay Leela Bhansali with 3 wins holds the most number of wins in direction. The most acting awards are held by Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Madhuri Dixit and Vidya Balan, all holding 4 wins each. A. R. Rahman has won the most number of awards for music direction, with 5 wins, and so has Javed Akhtar for lyrics. Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal hold the maximum number of playback singing, with 3 wins and 6 wins in the male and the female categories respectively.
22nd Screen Awards, 2016
The 22nd edition of Screen Awards was held on 8th January, 2016 and broadcasted on 31st January, 2016.